When Skoda was to launch their new greenline car, a concept was needed to illustrate the car’s outright stingy use of fuel, as well as getting the message to reach beyond the audience of traditional motoring website and magazines. For research had shown that potential Skoda customers are not very passionate about cars.

The strategy was an extreme car test that would demonstrate both fuel efficiency as well as quality and flexibility – presented as an adventure ”Around the world 800 Euros”. Fredrik Persson and his Aphasia -suffering father, Alf, crossed three continents together with the goal of not exceeding their fuel budget of 800 Euro.

The journey could be followed on the website, a blog on Expressen.se (one of Sweden's largest papers Internet edition) and a few chronicles in selected newspapers. Upon returning home, they had around 80 Euros left in their fuel budget, a car that had lasted the journey unscathed and a Russian press conference under their belts.

The project also generated more than 70 articles in the Swedish media, with an estimated audience of around 9.4 million people and a sales goal that had been beaten by 10% when the rest of the market dropped.

1. The journey was the communications generator for PR2. The car was central:- On the side of the car 80 one hundred krona notes were attached. During the journey a red cross was placed over the notes to act as a virtual barometer.

- The car was driven in extreme terrain. When it car was washed, followers could check that it was still in one piece.3. A Russian press conference was held4. Car salesmen were updated and got a great conversation piece to use on clients.5. A crisis plan was pre-arranged in the event of Alf becoming seriously ill or in case technical problems occurred or the budget was exceeded.6. Several partners strengthened the project: Aphasi foundation, Naturkompaniet, Michelin tyres, Preem.

7. Campaign blog where visitors could follow the adventure and compare how far into the journey their own cars had gone on the same budget. The blog had just over 32,000 visitors.

The goal was to sell 75 cars per month. The result: 83 sold cars per month, a goal met by more than 10% in a declining market.

Estimated print: 9.4 million readersPress coverage: 66 articlesOthers:- Travel log written by Fredrik, continually featured in three local papers, Karlskoga Tidning, Nya Wermlands Tidningen- Complete feature in Göteborgs Posten (one of Sweden's largest local papers).- Expressen wrote on the project weekly (Internet edition of national evening paper)- Dagens Nyheter (daily paper that covers nationally)- Svenska Dagbladet (daily paper that covers nationally).- The press conference in Russia resulted in penetration of Russia’s largest motor publications, as well as Russian TV.- Fredrik blogged on Expressen.se (18.000 visitors) and on Skoda’s blog jordenruntpa 8000kr.se (77% of the 32,000 visitors were direct traffic)- Fredrik has been featured 5 different times on national TV4 and also in several radioshows (inc. P4 Radio Stockholm, P4 Radio Värmland, P4 National covering).